Hashkafic perspective

Hi All,

I think I've finally found my Hashkafic perspective:

" Following Sephardi halacha as per our Mesorah, which is to present Judaism pleasantly and without aggression, approaching halachic decision-making with mildness and adopting a traditional view which stresses the middle way and avoids extremes.

It stresses the virtue of inclusivity as well as the value of the world around us – and not merely tolerance of it for the purpose of earning a living- believing in the desirability of a broad general education, preferably from university, combined with an uncompromising standard of Halacha and loyalty to Torah values"

And it wouldn't be this blog without a song

Halloween : no thanks

Hi All,

It's blatant paganism and not something I'd celebrate . All those goblins , witches ,vampires and other pagan stuff  and prayers to the dead  and marketed to make a profit doesn't seem kosher, having its roots in Celtic pagan beliefs. I also learned about the Halloween style festival , the Mexican "day of the dead ". It's again  pure pagan idolatry.

So I can tell you that none of us will be celebrating it, as it is a pagan celebration. I think that Halloween itself, is pagan and also secular, it is quite wrong for Jews to celebrate because it goes against quite a few of God's commandments. Additionally I do not think it is right to encourage children to go around dressed as wizards, witches, demons, ghosts and who knows what other symbols of evil that people can think of, whilst they go knocking door to door for tricking or treating ( which is to my mind not a good idea).

In the Book of Deuteronomy, we are told:

"There shall not be found among you one who passes his son through the fire; a diviner, an astrologer, one who reads omens or a sorcerer. One who charms animals, one who inquires of Ov or Yideoni, or one who consults the dead. For anyone who does these is an abomination of Hashem; and, because of these abominations, Hashem, your God, banishes the nations from before you."

The Torah clearly prohibits any attempt to communicate with the dead. Maimonides explains the reason for this law:

"All of these things are matters of falsehood and lies, and they are the very means through which the idol worshipers fooled the nations of the world into following them. And it is not proper for the Jewish people, who are exceptionally wise, to follow after these vanities, nor to entertain the possibility that they have any benefit...Anyone who believes in these things and things like them, and thinks in his heart that they are true and wise but that the Torah has prohibited them; he is one of the fools and those lacking knowledge... But those who possess wisdom and sound mind know by clear demonstration that all of these things that the Torah prohibits are not things of wisdom; rather, they are emptiness and vanity that fools stray after, and all of the paths of truth have been corrupted because of them. Because of this the Torah states, when it warns us about these vanities, "Perfect shall you be with Hashem, your God."

There are other places in Torah which indicate Halloween isn't for Jews:

1. Not to practice onein (observing times or seasons as favorable or unfavorable, using astrology) (Lev. 19:26)
2. Not to practice nachesh (doing things based on signs and portents; using charms and incantations) (Lev. 19:26) 
3. Not to consult ovoth (ghosts) (Lev. 19:31) 
4. Not to consult yid'onim (wizards) (Lev. 19:31) 
5. Not to practice kisuf (magic using herbs, stones and objects that people use) (Deut. 18:10)
6. Not to practice kessem (a general term for magical practices) (Deut. 18:10) 
7. Not to practice the art of a chover chaver (casting spells over snakes and scorpions) (Deut. 18:11) 
8. Not to enquire of an ob (a ghost) (Deut. 18:11)
9. Not to seek the maytim (dead) (Deut. 18:11) 
10. Not to enquire of a yid'oni (wizard) (Deut. 18:11) 
11. Not to suffer any one practicing witchcraft  (Ex. 22:17) .

So if we are not to do any of the above, it follows that we should not be celebrating or dressing up as them either. Now the good thing is that Judaism has a similar festival without worshiping evil or the dead and it is one in which I think anyone could feel comfortable in participating in, around Feb/March called Purim (celebrating the events of the Book of Esther). Unlike Halloween ,though ,Children dress as dress up as the Biblical characters themselves as well as sages, princesses, heroes and clowns. They drop by the homes of the community, visit the infirm and the aged, spreading joy and laughter. They bring gifts of food and drink and collect tzedakah (charity) for the needy. 

This is of course a contrast to the secular / pagan practice of Halloween; giving and not demanding, rejoicing, rather than scarring, heros and not demons... so I know which one I would prefer to celebrate and it is not the pagan-secular practice of Halloween. I personally cannot wait till Purim.

Corbyn boycotts Balfour Celebrations

No surprise that news has come out that Jeremy Corbyn isn't going to attend this week's celebration of the Balfour declaration. Yet Israel is a true friend of Britain , sharing the same values of democracy, freedom of speech and individual rights.   Why therefore is Corbyn not going ? At the labour conference he didn't attend the labour friends of Israel event. He claimed to be working , but no excuse this time? 

Comments

Just a notice to say, because of feedback and some idiots constantly posting  crap -as opposed to reasoned arguments - I've changed the comments so ONLY post with a discus account can comment.  If you prefer, you can set up your own blog.

Right to self determination and constitutions

Hi All,

One thing that the Catalonia crisis has brought into focus is the tension between respecting a constitution and respecting self determination of national  groups without a state.   

You see many people are saying that Spain's courts have said independence by Catalonia would be illegal as the Spanish constitution doesn't allow it. And yet hiding behind such a constitution didn't stop American colonists rebelling against the British or the Empire of   Austria - Hungary being dissolved or the ending of French rule in Algeria  (which was constitutionally speaking seen as a part of metropolitan France and not a French colony in north Africa).  

The arguments put forward by groups who want independence from an Empire or from another state would doubtless site the history of national self determination which gained popularity since Woodrow Wilson and Versailles and especially after world war two de colonisation of Africa and Asia.  It was and is after all a key part of Zionism that the Jewish people have the right to self determination and a separate homeland.

So who is right?  Those who say that  a nation's constitution is indivisible and  can never change or is the wider principle of national self determination trump everything ?  And what do we define as a potential nation? Would an independent Republic of  London or Yorkshire or South Dakota be less worthy of independence than Catalonia or Scotland? 

That Friday feeling

Hi All,

Yey! 

It's Friday and that means Shabbat is almost here!

Shabbat Shalom! 

Socialism and leftism is a dead end

Hi All,

The problem with socialism is thus:



As the great Winston Churchill said :

And a better way ? 

One nation Conservatism whose  philosophical proponent , Benjamin Disraeli once said :

“I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few.”

Disraeli, a Sephardic Jew,  oversaw  crucial Conservative  Domestic reform of  Britain between 1874-1880 and abroad  expanded the  British Empire, which contrary to leftist ideology actually helped and modernised a quarter of the globe:  he  made Queen Victoria Empress of India,  purchased the Suez Canal and held his own against Germany and Russia at the Congress of Berlin. "This Jew , he is the man !" Said Chancellor Bismarck....

In short , whilst we have a shambles of a conservative government at present , we must remember the alternative of Socialist Corbyn is far,  far worse . 

So

And just to annoy the silly hard  lefties here , let's have this man as Prime Minister :

 With this lady as deputy Prime Minister (or "first Secretary of state):

Discuss

Nitro coffee?

Hi All,

This is of course the latest must do fad : nitrogen coffee. But is it any good ? And because of its appearance to beer (plus it comes out of a tap ) is this a way of getting Britain into a continent type cafe culture that Blair wanted with his 24 hour drinking licences?

But anyways Shabbat Shalom  and aside from coffee and Shabbat , this is an open thread.

Martian style weather in uk

Hi all,

Thanks to  hurricane Ophelia , the UK was briefly under a darkened orange red sky and air to match.  This rather reminds me of what a terra formed Mars could look like...

Dr who latest

Hi All,

Clip from the forthcoming Christmas special:

Whatever my  trepidation about the changes for the new Who, I think I'm looking forward to this one. I wonder if we'll see the old cyber men again, given this story is set in between the first doctor's last episode "the tenth planet". Oh and they can do this because in the tenth planet (Bill Hartnell was extremely ill by that time and was often written out of episodes) the doctor does disappear halfway through to have a rest.  So Moffat is almost writing a fan fiction of "what was he doing"...

Discuss in comments below. 

Planet 9 or 10 does exist?

Hi All,

Exiting times : NASA has admitted that there could be a ninth planet in our solar system, which could be 10 times the size of earth, i.e. a super earth , but basically frozen as it is so far out.

Cool eh?

note : Pluto used to be a planet, but was downgraded from being one, hence any new planet would be the ninth and not the tenth.

Juncker and dolphins

Hi all,

Dolphins : "thanks for all the fish. Goodbye"

Junkie:“ thanks for the war.. now pay up "

Or :

" I am not hating the British. The Europeans have to be grateful for so many things Britain has brought to Europe, during war, before war, after war, everywhere and every time, but now they have to pay," 

I think I shall call this Saturday Junkie. Collage  all your favourite Juncker quotes of the week and see how crazy they are . In fact you could make a drinking competition , e.g. is this a fake quote or a real quote?  Looser has to drink a shot ? 

Shemini Atzeret/ Simchat Torah/ Shabbat

Hi All,

We're on the last parts of our high holiday season  within the Jewish community: Shemini Atzeret and  Simchat Torah, followed by Shabbat. Therefore we'll be back by Saturday night or maybe Sunday.

Happy holidays!😉🔯

Does the EU have diplomatic relations with aliens?

Hi All,

ALIENS, ALIENS, ALIENS!!!

Ambassador Rojan Josh, a  K'hari , one of the Grey species .
From Zeta Ridiculous

Ambassador  HRH Prince Fak El Fak Ung ,  Svinge from the Sombrero Galaxy

Ambassador Jez Sol, a  Koobe , from the Andromeda Galaxy

Well of course as European Commission President  Juncker is the wing man with alien governments and he's said so in the context of Brexit. UFO conspiracy theorists went into meltdown when Juncker made a speech to the EU parliament on 28th June last year , that extra terrestrial governments the EU had diplomatic relations with were worried about Brexit:

 

Here's the transcript :

“Il faut savoir que ceux qui nous observent de loin, sont inquiets. J’ai vue et entendue et écouté plusieurs des dirigeants d’autres planètes. Ils sont très inquiets parce qu’ils s’interrogent sur la voie que l’union européenne vas poursuivre. Donc il faut rassurer et les européens et ceux qui nous observent de plus loin”

 For those who can't do French :

“You should know that those who observe us from afar, are worried. I have seen and heard and listened to several leaders of other planets. They are very worried because they’re wondering which way the European Union is going. So we have to reassure both the Europeans and those who observe us from further away.”

Or did he have too many brandy shots that day? 👽😐🍷

And what does this mean for Brexit?

The ghosts of Torquemada and Franco

Hi All,

As regulars will know I fully support Kurdish independence  - Kurds are another minority  group in the middle east which reminds us that it is not solely Arab or fundamentalist Muslim- and it was good to see a democratic mandate to this last week as 92% voted for an independent Iraqi Kurdish state.  

What is NOT  surprising is the contrast between that referendum and the current banana republic  machinations of the Spanish government , which is verging on real  fascism , toward its own citizens in Catalonia. I don't know enough about supporting Catalonia independence. I do know that  Spain can't afford to loose the richest area of the kingdom. It would seem the Spanish government is still in the mould of Torquemada , the inquisition , 1492 expulsion of Jews , the Armada and Franco.

I also  know that trying to prevent this referendum using the police and bullets will only drive people to the separatist cause . You can't force people to be in state they don't want to be in. But the biggest irony is that before this crisis opinion polls were telling us  voters would be against succession: it takes little brains to see where Rayjoy's actions will lead. 

It also reminds us we couldn't give Gibraltar to these thugs. Not that we need to as overwhelmingly the people of Gibraltar voted to stay British. Not that Spain gets democracy....